Past Friends

Part 61: Singing In The Rain

You didn't know how much time had past but it was still pouring rain as you began to wake up. You don't really remember what happened after the mental breakdown you had from finding out you were hallucinating and probably going crazy. You find yourself in a somewhat dry spot underneath a large willow tree, but the clearing you were in before was no where in sight.

You try to remember what happened but you were finding it hard to focus, your brain all clouded as you remember bits and pieces of that "lost" story. You hear the boy with the dark hair reading it to you but it soon came to a singing part, you don't remember any songs at all. You hear this one particular song play through your head over and over again but eventually you give in, and start to sing (I Stand Alone by Bryan White). Your eyes once again mist-over, you get up and start to walk, as you sing along with every step.

You continue to walk and sing as if you were in a trance, and only briefly breaking free of this 'trance' to stare up at the sky when it suddenly stopped raining. You then continue to wander aimlessly singing the song over and over again in the increasingly dark forest completely unaware that most of the Avengers were out looking for you. You made it unintentionally, back to the clearing you were in before but you still didn't stop walking or singing. You stepped out into the open space as the clouds rolled away and the moonlight began to shine down and you realized you weren't alone.

You see and hear Loki as he calls out your name and you find yourself able to stop walking but not singing. He comes running but he finds you starting to back up and holding out your arms waving slightly, as if you were deterring him from coming any closer. Loki looks confused but seems to understands as he sees your misty eyes filled with tears. You start to sing the next verse "I seen your world with these very eyes. Don't come any closer, don't even try. I've felt all the pain and heard all the lies. But in my world there's no compromise" as tears begin to fall as you continued to back away from Loki. He grabs you, trying to pick you up and take you back to the Compound but you fight him, pushing him away as you begin to cry harder.

Loki tells you "its alright Y/N I'm here now, I'm here" repeating himself multiple times but you still didn't calm down. "Its me love" he says but you just shake your head 'no' still crying as you sing the last few lines of the song. You start to get quieter as you get closer to the end of the song, "I share my world with no one else... all by myself, I stand alone...all by myself, I stand alone... all by myself... I -I, am... alone...". You pass out in Loki's arms, as he held you while kneeling on the ground but he held you even closer when he realized you sang the end of the song wrong. "I am alone?" he questioned, Loki didn't know what you saw but he knew it couldn't be good if it ended with you passing out in tears from exhaustion.

Loki sat there on the forest floor for a while unaware of how much time had actually past until another Avenger who was nearby started calling out to him. Steve came over the ridge that led down into the clearing to see Loki holding your very still body. He rushed over, fearing the worst as he got down next to Loki, making sure you were breathing. He lets out a sigh of relief calling in over the ear-piece communicators that Loki found you before leaning down again next to you and Loki. "For a second there I thought she was..." Steve began but didn't finish talking as he took your hand realizing how cold you really were. Steve loudly announces they needed to get you back to the Compound before hypothermia sets in. Your lips were already starting to turn blue, your cheeks were red and you were starting to shiver as the wind picked up.

You regained consciousness after hearing Steve yelling and you open your eyes to look up at him. He looks down at you in shock as he sees there's something wrong with your eyes, but you blink hard a few times and they return to normal. You try to speak but all you managed to say was "cold", it was barely above a whisper but both Steve and Loki hear it. You turn back to look up at Loki and you start to weakly cry as he pulls your face to his chest, begging you not to leave him. You pass out again as Loki stands up, teleporting you, Steve, and himself back to the Compound to get you some help.

You wake up back at the Compound all confused, you open your eyes to witness Vision pulling off your jacket, boots and socks while Wanda was running a bath, adding an unknown mixture of powders turning the bathwater a light turquoise and soon the tub filled up with bubbles as the bathtub's jet were turned on. Natasha walks in a second later, noticing you're awake she hands the mug she was holding to Wanda before pulling you into a hug. "You're so cold sweetie" Natasha says holding you tight while you respond through slight chattering teeth "really, cause I feel nothing".

They all turn to look at you, the blank, emotionless expression on your face, the ice behind your eyes, it made them all worry. Wanda hands you the mug insisting you drink some hot tea, it will help you warm up. But you just hold the mug in your hands for a moment against your lap, while staring blankly at nothing. You try to hand the tea to Natasha but you had no strength in your hands. Your whole arms were shaking as you lift up the cup up and you end up dropping it.

Luckily Wanda caught the mug with her powers before it hit the floor and shattering into a million pieces. Wanda puts the cup down before helping you to your feet, she and Natasha start to aid you in getting the rest of your clothes off. You're in your underwear now, Vision picks you up and puts you in the bathtub. They turn away in an attempt to give you a little privacy as you struggle to remove your underwear, but after a couple minutes you get them off, and Natasha takes them. You sink down in the tub, your body completely hidden under the bubbles as was most of your head, in fact you let the water come up right to your mouth.

A few minutes have past and you find that the jets feel nice as you start to warm up and your body relaxes. The way the jets make the water bubble reminds you of a potion in a witch's cauldron, which you find amusing. You wonder what the witch would turn you into; a cat? A raven? A toad? Or perhaps a scaly little Goblin to do her biding. You think about how nice it would be to actually be a witch, making potions and the like in a cute cottage in the middle of nowhere with a talking cat or bird Familiar. Or maybe a Sea Witch living under the ocean in a beautiful crystal cave or sunken shipwreck, drowning sailors to steal their souls, you know just living your best life.

You didn't really notice as everyone left, they informed you that they were indeed leaving but that someone would be in shortly to check on you and stay with you if necessary. You were left alone as you continued to think and day dream as you find yourself falling back asleep, slowly slipping under the water.